


Announcement

by ReadingBennie



Series: Ben and Maggie [7]
Category: Benedict Cumberbatch - Fandom, Benedict Cumberbatch Fandom, British Actor RPF, Real Person Fiction
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Surprises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-03
Packaged: 2018-02-27 16:08:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2699126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReadingBennie/pseuds/ReadingBennie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After being separated for a month, Ben makes a big announcement. What is Maggie's reaction? What happens when the two receive surprising news? Can they reconcile and come back together?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> *cue Etta James voice* 
> 
> Aaaaaat laaaaaasssssst, I'm back. 
> 
> Took a while to crank this puppy out. 
> 
> It's on the long side so I've broken it up into shorter chapters! 
> 
> *jazz hands at first chapter fic*
> 
> Enjoy. 
> 
> (oh, and yeah. I steal from real life. I liked the whole concept.... so I borrowed it.)

“Alright, class, your assignment for tomorrow is to read up to page 150 and prepare at least two discussion questions. Listen to the sample music I’ve put up on the classroom page, there will be a quiz on Friday; same content as always- song title, genre, composer, bonus points for as much detail as possible. Those of you in choir, I’ll see you later; the rest of you have a good day!” I shuffled my papers together and made my way out of the classroom. I was so tired, so incredibly tired but luckily I had a two hour prep period next. If I was clever about it, I could sneak in a nap without being caught. 

I entered the staff room and made my way to my desk. One would have thought it was a Friday, there was so much chatter going on. Trying to block it out, I sat at my desk and started filing away my papers. My head was pounding and the chatter in the room seemed to be growing. Bits and pieces were making their way towards me. 

“It was only a matter of time before it happened. But what I don’t get is why we’ve never seen the two together!” 

“Do we even know her name? What if this is some kind of hoax?”

“It’s in _The Times_! It has to be real!” 

“I didn’t even know he was dating someone!”

I was certain that I could pass out from the pain in my head and my exhaustion, not to mention my stress level beginning to skyrocket from my coworkers’ relentless chatter. I buried my face in my hands, desperate to make the noise stop. But it didn’t, it only got louder, as the group decided to congregate at my desk to talk about…whatever it was they were discussing. 

“Marge, get this: that Benedict Cumberbatch guy, the one all the girls go nuts for?” I cringed at Vicky’s nickname for me, as her face loomed in my line of sight, one of her hands firmly planted on my desk. At the same time, my heart sped up at the mention of Ben’s name. “Well, he’s done got himself a bird and to top it right off, they’re getting married!”

The bottom of my stomach dropped. _Married? We only just split up… How could he move on so fast… Unless…_ I forced myself not to think any further.

“Oh.” I said lamely. “I guess that’s nice?”

“Innit?!” Vicky’s face lit up like fireworks on the fourth of July. She held out the hand not glued to my desk for a newspaper that had made its way over the others’ heads. Vicky took her hand away and began flipping through the pages to the announcements section. “C’mon everyone, let’s learn who Mrs. Cumberbatch is gonna be!”

I closed my eyes, willing Vicky’s mouth to shut and never open again.

“Here we go, ‘Forthcoming Marriages: Mr. B.T.C. Cumberbatch and Miss M.E. Gregson…’” Vicky’s voice faltered. I shot to my feet, silently begging her to stop. “‘The engagement is announced between Benedict, son of Wanda and Timothy Cumberbatch of London, and… Margaret… daughter of Marcia and Charles Gregson… of America…’ Oh my giddy aunt, Margaret!? Is this you!?”

“What!? Let me see that!” I snatched the paper out of Vicky’s hands and stared at the text. There were my initials, my name, my parents’ names staring back at me. _What the hell was that bastard thinking… some trick to get me back? What are.. . black spots… what…_

The floor of the staff room came rushing towards my face and a sharp pain on the right side of my head. There were the sounds of my coworkers shouting my name and the feeling of their hands trying to grab me. And then there was a quiet dark.


	2. Chapter 2

My ears registered a faint beeping and it was beginning to annoy me; I had to get up and turn it off. _Probably the smoke detector out of batteries… Jesus… What a weird dream… What caused that?_ My eyelids were heavy and I struggled to open them. The room was dimly lit and I lay looking at my ceiling… _That’s not my ceiling… This is not my room…_  

I moved to sit up but immediately stopped as pain radiated through my head. Raising a hand to touch, I felt a slight weight and resistance. I looked down my arm and saw a heart monitor attached to my middle finger. Hospital. _Hospital? What? Why?_ Fumbling around, I found the bed remote and pressed the button to raise the mattress to a sitting position. 

“Oh! Maggie! You’re awake!” Benedict was sitting in a chair right next to my bed. He moved a hand to grab mine but I moved it out of the way. 

“What are you doing here?” I inwardly flinched at how sharp the words sounded coming from my mouth.

“I’m your emergency contact. You had an accident at work, so they brought you in.”

“Oh… I guess I forgot to change that.” Ben’s face fell slightly. “Well, uh, thanks for coming though…”

I couldn’t seem to think of anything else to say. What I really wanted was to confront Ben about the announcement in the paper but the words failed me. I took to studying him while we sat in tense silence. Ben’s eyes were red and puffy, and the bags underneath indicated that he wasn’t sleeping well. He was wringing his hands, some of his knuckles beginning to turn red from the irritation. He looked spent. 

“Maggie…”  
  
“Ben…” We both started to speak but were immediately cut off by the sound of the door opening.

“Hello Miss Gregson, I’m Dr. Kim.” He was a tall man with thick black glasses, carrying my charts. “To answer your question as to why you are here, you collapsed and hit your head, losing consciousness. So, first things, how is your head feeling?”

“Well, there’s no sharp pain. It’s sort of a dull ache, more annoying than pain.”

“Good, good. I still want to check you for a concussion.” He ran through a series of questions, making notes as I gave my answers. “Looking at these results, I’d say you’re in the clear, but I’d still like if your fiancé would run through the test every two hours.”

“I’ll do that.” Ben answered and reached out again, grabbing my hand before I could pull away.

“Now, onto the fall,” Dr. Kim continued. “The most common cause is exhaustion, brought on by too little sleep. We ran a blood test to check on things and found nothing bad, but you recorded a high hCG level, indicating a pregnancy.”

“Oh.” My heart was pounding in my ears. Ben’s hand was tight around mine. I couldn’t seem to think of anything to say.

“Miss Gregson, when was your last cycle?”

“Oh…” I tried to remember… I’d been so stressed as of late; I attributed missing my period in October to my breakup with Ben. But looking back, really looking back… “I… Oh my god.”

I hadn’t had a period since August.

“I would recommend setting up a scan with your primary. Congratulations to you two. Take it easy; get a lot of rest. You’re going to need it. Here are your discharge slips, you’re free to go.” Dr. Kim handed the papers to Ben and left the room.

“I don’t want to talk about things here.” I said to Ben. He nodded and helped me get ready to leave. 

Benedict held my hand the whole while it took to be discharged. He held my hand as we walked out to his car, only letting go for seconds, as he placed my purse in the back, and got in his side. My hand was back in his as we started the silent drive to his ( _Our?_ ) flat.


	3. Chapter 3

We arrived at our ( _his?_ ) flat after what seemed like forever; twenty short minutes had dragged on and on in the silence of the car. Ben parked the Jag in the drive and rushed to help me. I humored him and let him take my hands to pull me out of the car. Once out, I brushed him away, but he kept hovering.

“I’m fine Ben, please, I can do this by myself. Let’s get inside.” The flat hadn’t changed. I don’t know if I was expecting it to, but seeing everything the way it had been one month ago was _confusing? Comforting?_

“Would you like something to drink? Maybe something to eat?” Ben shuffled around picking up things here and there: a sock, script, empty take-away containers. “Or perhaps you’d like to lie down again? I just put fresh sheets on our…my…the bed in the master suite?”

“A water would be nice.” I moved into the living room. “Then can we talk?”

Ben nodded and disappeared into the kitchen.

I sat down on the sofa, digging yet another script out from between the cushions. Ben reappeared as I flipped through the pages.

“Which script are you reading?” He set my drink on the coffee table in front of me.

“Um,” I flipped to the front. “Doctor Strange.”

“Really!? I thought I’d lost it! Oh thank god you found it!”

I let out a soft laugh as I tossed the script onto the coffee table.

We sat in silence for a few minutes as I sipped my water. 

“Ben, why did…” It was so hard to get the words out. “Why did you put an engagement announcement in the paper?”

“I didn’t… My parents did.” Ben sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “They didn’t know we… split, and there was a miscommunication on the phone yesterday… Mum called to see if I’d asked you yet and I couldn’t figure out how to tell her…”

“What?”

“My parents submitted the ad.”

“No, the part about asking me to marry you.” My heart was racing and there were tears pooling in my eyes. “Ben, are you… It wouldn’t work… We can’t… I can’t be there for you like you need…”

“Margaret, stop.” Ben took the glass from me, set it on the table, and then grabbed my hands. “Do you remember the big fight we had right after our first anniversary? Do you remember what you told me?”

I nodded.

“Then you’ll recognize these words.” Ben let go of my hands and cupped my cheeks, his thumbs brushing away tears. “Maggie, I love you. You can’t make choices for me; only I can. You can’t tell me what’s best for me; only I know. And I choose you; you’re the best for me. I want to be with you for as long as I can, and dammit, I hope to God that it’s forever. I love you and I won’t be able to love another like I love you, because Maggie, you are the one for me.”

“Ben…”

“I cocked up by missing your Gala event, and I’m so mad. I’d been working later to free up more time in my schedule so I could spend it with you before filming Lost City… And I was waiting for the right time to ask you… I almost did at Jimmy’s wedding. But I got scared, Maggie. Christ, I was so scared that you would say no.” Ben leaned forward and pressed his forehead to mine. “But I realized that even if you said no to marriage, I still want to be with you, to have a life with you, for as long as you’ll have me. Please, Maggie, come back… I can’t be without you.”

I could feel Ben’s tears falling from his cheeks onto my hands, mixing with my own. I picked my hands up and grabbed Ben’s face, pulling him into a kiss.

“I’m sorry.” I was sobbing now. “I was such an idiot. I was scared too … Oh Ben, I’m so, so sorry. I love you so much!”

“Maggie, love, marry me, come home, anything.” Ben wrapped his arms around me, crushing me to his chest.

“Yes, yes to everything!” I pressed my face into his neck, taking in his scent. “Oh my god, Ben, we’re getting married. And we’re having a baby! I can’t believe it… ”

“We are… Mr. and Mrs. Cumberbatch. Mommybatch and Daddybatch… A patch of Cumberbatches.”

“Oh Ben, I missed you.”

Ben only response was to kiss me.

I smiled into the kiss as I thought of our beautiful and bright future.


End file.
